Attachment for middlings-purifiers



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

e. Mmmm-3R. Attafehment for Middli'ngs Purifier.' N0. 230,485.

Patented July 27,1880'.

` 2 Sheets-LSheet-'Z' S. C. MGMASTER. Attachment for M iddlings Purifier. N0. 230,485.

Patented July 27, 1880.

l mllllll/ MPEIEHS, PHOTO-LITHOGRAFMEFL WASHINGTON, D. C.

UNITED 4 STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL c. MCMAsTEn, oE MALvEEN, onto.

ATTACHMENT FOIR MIDDLINGS-PURIFERS SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 230,485, dated July 27, 1880.

Application led January 15, 1880.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, SAMUEL C. McMAsrER,

of Malvern, in the county of Carroll and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Attachments for Middlings# and I do hereby declare the follow` Puriliers; ing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part ol' this specification.

The object of the first part of my invention is to insure that the middlings shall be distributed uniformly over the entire widthot' the bolting-cloth, whether they (the middlings) be fed into the hopper rapidly or slowly.

The second part of my invention relates to a novel combination of devices for subjecting the middlings to the action of air-currents before their delivery to the shaker, for the purpose of removing from them the light iluii'y impurities, as will be explained.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a middlingspurier having my improvements lapplied thereto, one side of the casing of the attachment having been removed, the construction of parts being such as to adapt the attachment for application to purifiers when placed.

in a mill having a short distance between its floors. Fig. 4 is a front view of one of the partitions of the air-chamber. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my attachment, as I prefer to build it, for use in mills where there is suftcient height between the puriter and the floor above. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section taken on linew y, Fig. 2.

Referring to Fig. 1,A represents the side or casing of a purifier of any usual or approved construction, employing a horizontal shaker driven from the eccentric-shaft B, to which motion is imparted from any desired motor through the pulley b.

C C C represent gather-boards, which conduct the middlings from the shaker to the conveyer in the box D. Y. v

E is the fan, communicating with the air-y chambers above the shaker by means of the air-trunk E', which may, when preferred, be

divided into separate conduits by means of partitions, as represented by the dotted lines e.

F is a feed-roll extending the entire width of the machine. It is situated at the bottom of the hopper, which has a sliding board, f, which is made adjustable vertically, so as to regulate the width of the throat between the lower edge of the board and the feed-roll, the direction ot' rotation of the feed-roll being indicated by the arrow l in Fig. 3.

The above-namedparts may be of any usual orv approved construction, as my attachment is adapted for use upon any of the middlingspuriters in plied.

G G G G are overlapping gather-boards, forming a sort of hopper, leaving a narrow space or throat between the lower edges of the lower pair of boards, G G.

H is a shaft mounted in suitable .bearings and provided with radial arms h h h 7L, one set at each end of the shaft. h h h h are blades supported upon the outer ends of the arms h and revolving with the shaft` and arms in the direction indicated by the arrow l, thus constituting a distributer. I I is a feed-chute, the bottom I of which is provided upon its upper face with a series of divergent ribs, i, Fig. 3, which are spread apart at their lower ends. i is athroat formed in the end wall, J, of the attachment, to permit the passage of vthe middlings, and also of an air-currentwhich latter enters at i2 and is regulated by a sliding valve or damper, 3. By preference the throat or opening 2` extends the full width of the feed-spout, which,

general use to which it can be apas shown in Fig. 2,may be made nearly the width of the end of the attachment.

g is an opening to admit air, there being, by preference, one opening at each side of the machine. 4

g' is an opening (of which there are preferably three) in the front ofthe attachment.

K is a partition extending from the upper edge of one of the gather-boards, G, nearly to the upper wall of the attachment.

L is a partition extending from the upper wall or deck, about three-fourths the depth of the attachment, under the arrangement shown in Fig. 3. This partition `L is hinged at its IOO upper end, so as to swing freely toward or from the partition K, the position of its lower end being regulated by means of a rock-shaft, l, one arm, Z', of which is arranged to bear against the partition, the other arm, Z2, outside the wall of the attachment, being caused to engage with a rigid segment, as indicated in Fig. 2, or other equivalents maybe employed for adjustin g the position ofthe partition L.

M is a partition extending from the bottom of the attachment to a point near its upper wall, and, by preference, these partitions K L M are placed in inclined positions, as indicated; but this may not be essential.

N is an opening through which material collected in the bottom of the chamber between the partitions K and M may be removed.

As indicated in Fig. l, the attachment is connected with the air-trunk of the puritier by means of spout-s 0 upon each side, one only being shown.

In Figs. 2 and 3 P is a fan, the central part of the casing of which is connected with the chamber formed within the attachment, and driven by a belt from any desired motor.

By preference, I belt the shaft H to the eccentric-shaft of the machine, as indicated in the drawings.

rIhe operation of my attachment or improvement is substantially as follows: The middlings are fed in through the feed-spout, and as they pass from the lower edge of the bottom part, I, thereof they are caught by the revolving blades h' of the distributer and thrown upward into the chamber between the partition K and the front wall of the attachment, the distributer being assisted in this operation by the air-currents, which enter be- .tween the overlappingboards Gr G' and pass through the chamber in an upward direction. As the middlings are thus acted upon by the distributer and these air-currents the light fiuffy refuse is separated from thebetter and heavier portions, which fluffy material is skimmed off, as it were, and carried over the top of partition K by means of a supplement-al air-current, which enters at the throat i', as will be readily understood from an examination of Figs. l and 3, the direction of the air currents being indicated by the arrows 3 and 4. The air-current, laden with this fluffy material, passes from the top of partition K down under partition L, a large portion of the fluffy materia-l being deposited in the bottom ofthe chamber formed between partitions K and M, whence it can be removed from the opening N, Fig. 3, the air-current continuing its passage over the top of partition M, and thence out through the fan.

It will be readily understood that by moving the lower end of the swinging partition L toward or from the partition K the velocity of the air-current through the throat thus form ed between these two partitions may be so regulated as to form a practically dead-air chamber between the partitions L and M, so as to insure the desired deposit of material, as above referred to.

It will be readily understood that the heavier portions of the middlings, after having been acted upon by the distributer and the air-currents, pass through the throat at the lower edges of the gather-boards G', and thence to the feed-roller F; and one result of the distributer is to deliver the middlin gs to the feedroll in a substantially uniform sheet throughout the entire length of the said feed roll, whence they are discharged below the lower edge of the adjustable board j' across the entire width of the bolting-cloth.

It is well known to all who are familiar with the operation of middlings-purifiers that the rate at which the middlings are delivered to the purifier varies materially, even from one hour to another during the day, and that where the middlings are discharged through a spout directly into the hopper and upon a feed-roll (represented by F) the hopper and spout are apt to become frequently choked up for the following reasons: In order to insure that the middlings shall be distributed across the entire width of the shaker, it is necessary that the throat between the feed-board and the roll shall be narrow enough and the rate of feed slow enough to insure that there shall always be sufficient middlings in the hopper to cover the feed-roll throughout its entire length, even when the middlin gs are being fed slowly through the spout, so that when an increase in the rate of delivery to the hopper takes place the middlings soon ll up the hopper and back up into the spout to such an extent as to become objectionable. The feed-board must now be raised and the throat widened to get rid of this accumulation, the result being that as soon as the rate of delivery to the hopper is reduced the hopper is emptied, and the middlings are delivered only to the central portion of the shaker-a result which is also objectionable.

By my construction of devices these difficulties are obviated, because the width of the throat between the edge of the feed-slide and the roller may be such that no ordinary increase in the rate of delivery will iill the hopper, and even though the hopper shall be nearly filled the accumulation will soon pass through the throat.

It will, of course, be understood that the best results, so far as relates to uniformity in feed is concerned, will be obtained by placing the entire attachment, as represented in Figs. 2 and 3, above the upper line ofthe hopper ofthe machine to which the attachment is applied, because of the increased space for accumulation of middlings which is thus provided below the lower edges of the gather-boards, for which reason I prefer to use the construction shown in Figs. 2 and 3 rather than that shown in Fig. l.

I propose to d rive the distributer from the eccentric-shaft of the purifier by an independent IOO belt, in order that, when found desirable, it (the distributer) may be thrown out of action. For instance, suppose that the mill has stood still all night, and the weather being dry and cold when the mill is started in the morning, the quantity of middlings delivered to the purifier is greater thancan be properly treated. Under such circumstances I can throw the distributer out of action, raise the adjustable board f so high only as will deliver all the middlings that can be properly puritied on the shaker, letting the balance accumulate in the hoppers. As soon as the supply of middlings has been reduced to about an average amount the' distributer may be started, after which no ordinary fluctuation will affect the delivery of the middliugs across the entire width of the shaker.

It will be seen that the employment of a distributer which rotates about a horizontal axis enables me to make the hopper in which the distributer is located so narrow that it can enter the feed-hopper of a purifier of the ordinary construction.

It will ofcourse be understood that the partitions Land M have their central portions cut away to tit over the air-trunk which leads from the fan to the sections of air-chamber above the shaker.

I have described my invention as being an attachment to a middlin gs-purilier, and propose to so construct it that it can be attached and used in connection with many purifiers as already built and sold; but I do not wish to be limited to so building` it, it being apparent that it may be constructed as an integral part of a purifier when the same is being manufactured; butin view of the fact that itxmay be zulvantageously employed as a separate contrivance for purifying middlings I prefer to call it an attachment.77 Ido not, however, wish to have the scope of this patent limited by the use of thislanguage.

1. In a middlings-purifier, the combination of a feed-hopper, an adj ustable feeder arranged below the hopper and adapted to deliver the middlings uniformly across the entire width of the shaker, and an independently driven distributer revolving about a horizontal axis, and

adapted to receive the middlings and deliver them across the entire width of the purifier, substantially as set forth.

2. As an attachment for middlings-purifiers the combination of a feed-spout, the distributer rotating about a horizontal axis, gather-boards arranged below the distributer and provided with openings adapted to direct air-currents through the mass of middlings which has been acted upon by the distributer, and an opening above the feed-spout to admit air, substantially as set forth.

3. In a middlings-puricr, the combination,

-with the shaker, of a distributer rotating about a horizontal axis, a feeding mechanism, an opening below the axis of the distributer to admit air-currents, an opening above the airdistributer to admit an air-current to remove from the middlings the finer impurities, and a wall dividing saiddistributer from the airchamber, through which air passes after leaving the shaker, substantially as set forth.

4. In an attachment for middlings-puriicrs,

' the combination of a distributer rotating about a horizontal axis, gather-boards arranged below the distributer and having their edges in planes parallel with the axis of the distributer, an opening between the adjacent edges of the overlapping gather-boards, an air-chatnber above the distributer, a partition dividing the air-chamber into compartments, and afan adapted to draw an air-current through the SAMUEL CUMMINGS lVIcllIAS'IER.

Witnesses:

J. R. NEELY, W. A, BAXTER. 

